(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers with the Free University of Berlin and Zuse-Institut Berlin has developed a type of opioid that was shown to target pain in rats without causing negative side effects. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes the new opioid, how well it worked in rats and the side effects that were eliminated.

Most everyone knows about the positive and negative attributes of opioids—they are used to dull pain but are also highly addictive and have side effects such as constipation and respiratory distress. In this new effort, the researchers have developed a type of opioid they have named NFEPP that is works only on the part of the body that is in pain, while not affecting other parts, thus averting side effects.

As part of their research, the group noted that the parts of the body that hurt typically result in inflammation as the body tries to repair itself. They further noted that body parts experiencing inflammation tend to be more acidic than other parts. Because of that, they set about developing an opioid that would bind only to nerve receptors that exist in acidic environments. Opioids binding to untargeted parts of the body are what cause side effects, after all—binding to nerve cells in the gastrointestinal tract, for example, causes constipation and binding to nerve cells in the brain is what leads to feelings of euphoria and addiction.

The researchers tested the new opioid on rats, and found that it was comparable to the commonly prescribed opioid fentanyl in relieving pain, but it did not cause constipation, addiction, breathing problems, heart rate increases or changes to blood oxygen levels. In short, it appeared the new opioid alleviated pain as well as current opioids, but did not cause any noticeable side effects.

More research is required to test both the efficacy and safety of the opioid in rats and other test animals before it can be tested in humans, but if the opioid turns out to work in humans the way it does in rats, it could mark a truly transformative moment in medical science—a true breakthrough in pain mitigation and management.

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What "most everybody knows" about addiction is wrong. Opiod "addiction" arises from psychological factors, not some physical imperative. That is why most people given opiod pain meds after surgery do not go on to become heroin addicts; they are not psychologically vulnerable. Same was true of the hundreds of thousands of heroin-addicted soldiers returning from Vietnam did not become junkies after returning Stateside.

Treating the drug "addiction" without treating the life circumstances and personality disorder that led to it is a waste of time and money.

Oh, and do you suppose that maybe the "negative side effects" which these good doctors hope to eliminate provide a safety mechanism against permanent reliance? If these researchers do succeed, they will have created an even more abusable form of opiod than previously existed. Brilliant.

@Anonym: You sir are an idiot. Opioid/opiate addiction is a real physical phenomenon with roots in it's effects on neurotransmitters. I have one of the most addictive personalities you can find but in my experience of using heroin briefly to assuage the horrible pain of a severely wrenched leg, the side effect of not being able to pass other than rock hard, massive shit boluses with huge effort was sufficient for me to overcome quickly the otherwise pleasurable effects as soon that was realistic despite the unpleasant withdrawal. Without that deterrence I know I would have been hooked. It could be that many others who would otherwise be caught in the intrinsically addictive trap of opiates and opioids have been similarly dissuaded from their pursuit of more. These researcher's seem to have eliminated even the temptation of pleasure if I read it correctly and that is huge.

It's true that opioids are physically addictive. But we may add that there are also psychological effects. For example, people who move back to the environment where they used to take the drug, have a greater chance to fall back to the habit of using it.

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